Many people believe that simply getting exposed to the world of television will make them instantly popular, even if they are a Geek with no friends. For people who do manage to get themselves exposed in the local news or something similar, it only lasts very briefly, usually in seconds. This is where the old saying "15 minutes/seconds of fame" comes into play. People who do get themselves exposed to the world will usually either say hello to their mother or do something extremely stupid or moronic to make their short exposure much more glamorous; they think people will remember them for a long time, when in fact people will quickly forget them and move on. If this happens, the person may sometimes try to bug people into remembering that he or she was on TV.

Examples:

Parodied in Family Guy where Chris is interviewed by the local news. He asks to say hello to his mother, Lois. He does so while turning away from the camera and saying hello to his mother who is only a few feet away from him.

Of course this happens all the time in Real Life, much to the dismay of the local news reporter on scene. Most people who see a news reporter in the street will usually pass by in the distance waving their arms or making silly faces. Other people may try this closer to the camera.

There was one occasion where (off camera) a reporter attacked or shoved some people interfering with their news report who were hovering on top of the reporter.

In one episode of Dinosaurs, there's a TV report about a meteor about to fall on the Sinclair home. Earl and the kids look out the window and wave at the camera as the meteor plummets towards them.

Marco in Animorphs uses this trope at one point to let an Andalite general know that the entire Andalite civilian population is watching their conversation before the general has time to say anything in front of them that he won't be able to take back. As an unfortunate consequence, humanity's first direct words to the larger universe are, "Hey, everybody! Howard Stern rules! Yah!"

In Babylon 5 episode "And Now For A Word" humans and aliens on the title station move behind a reporter on the station as she is filming.

The Powerpuff Girls comic book story "Drama-O-Rama" (DC Comics, issue #48) has Sedusa staging a reality TV show throughout Townsville, knowing that everybody—even the girls—will be mugging for the cameras so much that she'll be able to rob Townsville blind.

NFL Films compiled a montage of players doing this, set to music ... the Hi Mom Aria.

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